Wednesday, 29 August 2007

Felting

Last night I felted the swatch of Loft and Patons Classic Merino.

Oh right, I forgot to mention Patons Classic Merino. I went shopping. I swear it was a safe yarn source. I knew Micheals had the classic, and the rest of the bins are usually picked over fairly good. I figured it would be a piece of cake, that there would be no surfeit of yarn purchases, no budget blowing, no yarn fumes.

I must have caught a full shipment. There was Patons, in every mix, in every colour, in every line, there was eighteen thousand colours of SWS Soy. There was sock yarn, darn it.

Before I knew it, I had my one planned skein of Aran coloured Classic Merino, 2 skeins of Kroy, and I was searching through bins of some of the new variegated colours of SWS Soy counting how many skeins I needed to do a vest or sweater.

And then I saw that Lion Brand had some really nice pure wools in store too. I was in heaven, and then I realized it was really that sneaky devil, making me think it was heaven. The budget was already blown, September was still a week away, and Micheals had yarn. This was the worst of all possible scenarios.

I put down all but the approved skein, backed slowly away, and went too look at needles. I picked up the 4 mm ones I needed, and I left, averting my eyes as I walked back past the yarn section. All I can say is its a good thing yarn is not like candy in the aisles of grocery stores. I be sunk if they did that.

But its going to take me weeks to get over it.

So anyway, I picked up the merino and did up a swatch, with some loft attached. Then I faced my greatest fear of how to felt. I have felted before inadvertently, but never on purpose. I did have a problem. My washer is a front loader, and is too gentle for felting. I thought for a bit, and realized my mixer would work. I thought of it because somewhere in my mind, the little washer that Jo at Celtic Memory has reminds of this big underused equipment in my kitchen. Its a one of these. I boiled some water, put on the paddle, and mixed it slowly for 15 minutes. It was a thing of beauty. It was beyond beauty, how nicely it felted in there. The picture is at home. In the other work bag. I meant to bring it, but I got distracted by yarn fumes, and I knew the only way to deal with it would be to do something else I crave.

I brought this to the office to swatch. I'm looking forward to it. It might compensate for all the SWS but I won't hold my breath.

About Me

'Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.'
- Robertson Davies
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These are my words to live by.
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When I was a kid one of my earliest memories of grandmas house was of all the aunties getting together to make wool quilts. My Uncle took off the table top and set up the quilt frame somehow on the table legs. We kids would sit under the table and watched the needles go through, and the hands turning moving swiftly along. Seeing a quilt being made from the underside is not something you forget. Sleeping under something that you saw being made right from the carding of the wool is not something you forget either. My Auntie Lorraine who loved to embroider and crochet taught my sister and I outline stitch embroidery for tea towels, pillow cases, and dresser scarves. There were always crocheted doilies and antimacassars at her house too. I have been fascinated by needle and threads since then. I can't pick a favourite among string and needle things. I sew, do crosstitch, needlepoint, hardanger, blackwork, and embroideries of all kinds. I crochet and tat, and now I knit too. Did I leave anything out? Tell me. I'll probably need to learn that too. It's a compulsion. And now I spin. Did I mention I have a small loom? And now a much bigger loom? Like I said, this is clearly a compulsion.